‘The Walking Dead’ Season 8 Gets Renewed Ahead Of Season 7 Premiere

A week before the seventh season premiere, AMC has ordered an eighth season of the post-apocalyptic drama series. The news was announced at the start of a two-hour retrospective on Sunday, October 16.

“Eeny, meeny, miny, more,” AMC president Charlie Collier said in a statement with a nod to Negan’s (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) famous line. “What a joy to partner with Robert Kirkman, Scott Gimple and some of the hardest-working people in television to bring ‘The Walking Dead’ to the fans. And, most important, thanks to those fans for breathing life into this remarkable series right along with us.”

The eighth season is expected to premiere next year and will kick off with the show’s landmark 100th episode. Current showrunner Scott M. Gimple is on board to return. After-show “Talking Dead” hosted by Chris Hardwick has also been renewed.

The renewal comes as little surprise given the show’s ranking as the No. 1 TV series among the coveted adults 18-49 demographic. The seventh season premiere, set to air Sunday, October 23 at 9 P.M., is the franchise’s most highly anticipated episode yet.